Tea party to make its voice heard in Tampa

Don’t expect any fireworks from the tea party at the Republican National Convention.

The 2012 gathering of party faithful in Tampa marks the first GOP convention since the tea party barrelled onto the scene in 2009. But instead of scheming to take the convention by storm — by rallying members to stage raucous protests or waging a political battle that could hurt presumptive nominee Mitt Romney — national tea party groups are using the convention to cement their ties with the Grand Old Party.

POLITICO Crossword

Some activists are planning to host low-key events and lobby to shape the Republican platform, but that’s about it. And other tea-party-aligned groups are planning to sit out the event entirely.

The lack of outside activity from the tea party in Tampa underscores the fact that activists feel more at home in the Republican ranks and think they’ve got a better shot at pushing the GOP from inside the room. After all, the movement already helped swing the House to the Republicans in the 2010 midterms and has proved to be a major force in GOP primary races down-ticket.

It’s also a sign the movement is coming to terms with Romney and prioritizes booting President Barack Obama over causing an ideological uproar. That’s despite a long campaign that had some tea party advocates supporting Romney alternatives like Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Ned Ryun, CEO of American Majority Action, said there’s an understanding among tea party activists that it’s time to rally around Romney.

“Primaries are where you have your disagreements, and you have your serious disagreements then,” he said. “But then when it comes for the general, OK, we may not be crazy about the guy at the top of the ticket, but we realize that he’s far better than the other option, so let’s do what we can.”

AMA is planning to send two representatives to the convention for meetings. “It’s the place to be if you want to meet with donors, if you want to meet with other people,” Ryun said. But the group isn’t planning any events.

The Club for Growth is staying home. “We don’t plan on having a presence there,” Barney Keller, a spokesman for the group, wrote in an email.

Other national groups aligned with the movement are taking a relatively low-key approach to the convention.

FreedomWorks has launched a website that urges members to vote on which policy issues they’d like the GOP to incorporate into its platform for 2012. The group is also planning to lobby members of the platform committee to urge them to adopt some of its ideas, said Brendan Steinhauser, federal and state campaigns director at FreedomWorks.

The group is also getting guidance from Jim Bopp, vice chairman of the Republican National Committee and an influential conservative attorney, who sits on the committee that will draft the 2012 party platform.

Bopp said he’s expecting tea party groups to work the system at the convention, focusing on getting their ideas into the platform.

Glad to see a lot of black faces in the crowd. Lying ass libbers will swear the Tea Party is racist yet there are many non-white members as the photo on this notoriously libber site confirms. obysmal is losing his audience as many blacks are tired of welfare checks and want to earn their way in life. obysmal can't win re-election if he can't convince his faithful audience to stay stuck on government dependence.

Together America, black, white, Hispanic and other, we're going to take our DAMN country back!

In a lot of ways the Tea Party has already won and they've just begun. The way they have won is that they have become(really always were) a long term movement that can field voters and has staying power. Which is because they are people who have been motivated so much by events that their core belief is now to stay engaged in the political arena for life. Get used to them, cause they are likely only going to get stronger and more motivated.....and it won't be the traditional democrat " show up , crap on cop cars, destroy public and private property, commit numerous crimes while on drug trip to push incoherent disorganized self contradicting message" type of protest.

Well now, I guess all those articles about the tea party being dead were totally worng, weren't they?

The tea party did not die, it just went to work.

But it's not just the tea party. It's all Americans who believe in the traditions that made this country the greatest country in the world.

One example - the long lines of people waiting for food at Chick-fil-A this week. NONE of those people will be voting for Obama in the upcoming election, but they WILL be turning out to vote, and they will bring the same enthusiasm to the election that they brought to the chicken sandwich.

I expect to be eating a lot of chicken in the upcoming months. And I expect Obama and his socialist supporters will be eating a lot of crow in November.

They will do something to get noticed. They have to. It's in their blood. Whining and raving is how they got recognition in the first place. They are not going to pass up being on the biggest Republican stage.

Glad to see a lot of black faces in the crowd. Lying ass libbers will swear the Tea Party is racist yet there are many non-white members as the photo on this notoriously libber site confirms. obysmal is losing his audience as many blacks are tired of welfare checks and want to earn their way in life. obysmal can't win re-election if he can't convince his faithful audience to stay stuck on government dependence.

Together America, black, white, Hispanic and other, we're going to take our DAMN country back!

Good Point better post it before someone at Politico realizes their mistake and changes it.

They will do something to get noticed. They have to. It's in their blood. Whining and raving is how they got recognition in the first place. They are not going to pass up being on the biggest Republican stage.

Oooooo, is it the fact we are becoming a larger percentage of the population than the real Whining - Raving Libs?

Crap on any Cop Cars or Burn a Mom and Pops Store to the ground lately?

The bigotry displayed by progressives when they assume conservatives are only old white men is both sad and disturbing. The progressives claim they always use reason and data to come to their conclusions yet time and again on these threads we see their claims that conservatism is exclusive to closed-minded, uneducated, racist white males....Why?

The narrative that fits their agenda is one reason, I suppose. But the more disturbing possibility is a deep hatred that will be hard to overcome. I believe the current shrill partisanship we see from Obama and his progressive base is indicative of this problematic and discouraging hatred.

The primary win by Cruz in Texas is another data point that shatters the stupidity of progressives regarding their prejudices. I cannot fathom existing in such hatred.

the tea party of florida has been thrown under the bus so many times by the same state leaders they elected, they have tire tracks on their skulls. in florida very few politicians even bother to mentioned them in their literature or campaign mailers. the baggers have alienated so many republicans, independents and dem's they are doomed. their hand picked govennor's polls numbers are dismal and no one will campaign with him. rommey even submarines scott's message on the economy. i can't speak for other states but in florida the tea party is in hiding.